You have a job that you hate. No, “hate” is too soft a word – you despise it! If you have another job lined up, you’d quit today and not even bother to give notice.

We’ve all been there. And with the increasing frequency of job changes these days, it’s more likely than ever that you will have such a job – sooner or later.

Is there a constructive way to deal with a job that you hate? Absolutely – and here are some recommendations.

Plan An Exit Strategy – Now!

I’ve always thought that one of the worst responses to having a job you hate is one of the following common justifications:

“I’m tough – I’ll just dig in and work through it.”

“I can’t afford to leave.”

“Maybe it’ll get better if I just wait it out.”

“Maybe I’m the problem – I’ll try to do better.” (This one could be legitimate!)

“I can’t leave; I have too much time invested in this employer and besides, I have seniority.”

“I don’t want to give up my vacation time.”

On the surface, each of these responses sound noble, or at least beneficial. But each probably also misses the mark!

If you have been feeling uncomfortable on your job for a long time, chances are the negative feelings that you have do have a basis in fact. There are several possibilities:

Your boss or other significant co-worker(s) may not like you – and they’re not trying to hide it.

You’re doing work that doesn’t fit your personality and talents.

The company is going nowhere.

The company is very dysfunctional (no matter how long you “wait it out”, it will never get better).

The job may not be a good fit.

You’re not particularly good at the job you have.

You could be doing better somewhere else – and deep down you know it.

If any of these reasons – and it’s usually a combination of several – play a part in the fact that you hate your job, staying there won’t improve the situation.

Do some deep meditation in regard to your job, and make sure that you can articulate the reasons why you hate it. Those reasons are probably totally legitimate. And that means it’s time to plan an exit strategy from your job.

An exit strategy will serve at least three purposes:

It will enable you to quit your job – at least eventually.

It will give you a purpose, given that your job probably doesn’t.

It will create a positive focus, to help offset the negative energy flowing from your job.

An exit strategy may not give you a chance to quit your job tomorrow. But it will point you in the right direction, and give you something to hope for.

Continue To Do Your Best Work

Once you decide that you are going to leave your job, continue to do your best work. This is particularly true if you are a Christian:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters…“ – Colossians 3:23

In addition to the fact that we are all ultimately working for the Lord, there are several reasons why you need to continue to do your best work:

If you don’t, you may develop a bad attitude that could carry over to the next job.

You want to do all you can to get a good reference from your current job.

At a minimum, you want your coworkers to think positively about you – you never know if you might be working with some of them in the future.

You need to keep your skills up – the best way to do this is by applying them conscientiously each day.

Your work is a reflection about who you are – make sure that your work continues to reflect the person you want others to see.

Our work is one of our best faith witnesses to the rest of the world.

Do your best work until the day you walk out the door – everything will go better with you later if you do.

Be Ready To Take A Step Down

If you really hate your job enough, you should be prepared to take a step down in either pay or position, or both. A very good friend of mine used to say from time to time, “Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward.” Most of us want to believe that we can continue going forward no matter what the obstacles are. But sometimes you have to step around obstacles if you can’t go through them.

This is usually the case with a bad job. You may have to work for less elsewhere in order to get out of that job. No matter how much you want to avoid taking a step back, it may be the cleanest, easiest way to get out of the situation you’re in now.

If you hold out for a better paying and higher position, you run the risk of self-destructing on your current job. Never assume that your boss and coworkers don’t know that you hate your job. Very few of us are so poker-faced that we could pull that off. Sooner or later, you could end up getting fired – and then you’ll have no job.

Also, taking a notch down on a new job could be a necessary step in order for you to gain new skills that will help you to go forward. It may also help to get yourself in a situation that you feel better about your work. The better you feel about the work you’re doing, the more progress you can make.

Plan To Exit Gracefully

Even if you are planning to leave your job, be at peace with everyone in your workplace. And once you leave, keep any negative opinions about the company and its employees to yourself. If you really hate your job, this can be especially difficult to do. But you need to resist the urge.

Jobs today are something of a revolving door. It’s no longer something that you “own” – but rather an experience that should last only as long as it’s necessary. And when it’s time to move on, we should do it with the grace and humility befitting followers of Jesus Christ.

Common Reasons To Make A Career Change?

Company Issues

You’ve probably known people who seem to be in perpetual crisis; well guess what? Some organizations are the same way. Much is made of synergy when it comes to organizations, but seldom discussed is bad synergy! It’s very real! If the top two or three people in a company or department are negative, suspicious, hostile or downright incompetent, those attitudes will filter throughout the ranks.

Every day you come into work with the feeling you’re fighting something but you can’t put your finger on exactly what it is—let me suggest it might very well be that negative synergy. You can’t fight it; it will be there in spite of your best efforts, and it will still be there long after you’ve moved on.

I had the displeasure to work for such a company in my first job out of college. Going to work was an emotional wrestling match every day. When I got there, it was even worse. Seldom did I have anything remotely resembling a good day at work. There were some good people in there, but they were snowed under by bad management and that portion of the rank and file who seemed to be able to play the game only too well.

I ended up leaving and never looked back. What I didn’t know at the time was that this small, privately held company was on the verge of bankruptcy!

Sometimes it really isn’t you–it’s the company! And staying can drag you down with them.

Industry Troubles

Sometimes entire industries get into big trouble. Being a refugee from the mortgage business (left in 2008) I know this only too well. I could have stayed in the business and worked in some capacity, after all I had been in it for years and knew a lot of people in the business. But an industry’s problems are usually too big for one person to work through.

When that happens, you have to come face-to-face with the stay or go question, and do some serious soul searching. Will you be better off to continue to make a go in an industry you know, or will you be better off trying your hand at something new?

As we’ve seen from the mortgage business, industry troubles can take years to work out, and you have to ask if “staying the course” is really in your best interests. That answer will be different for everyone.

Technological Changes

Sometimes technology dooms an entire industry, but at the same time it also creates parallel opportunities. The print media and the internet are an example. The print media has been struggling to survive and to find relevancy ever since the start of the Internet Age. So far, it seems to be losing the battle—virtually every projection shows it to be continuing to lose ground. But at the same time, new opportunities are arising on the internet, and while making the shift from print to the web may be difficult it’s hardly impossible.

The situation was similar for radio when TV became popular in the 1950s. Many of the stars of 1950s TV series were former radio personalities who had successfully made the jump. They decided to make the change into the new industry rather than to ride the old one down—technology changed the game forever.

Career shifts due to technology have been going on for a long time, so it’s something we should recognize and be prepared for.

The “Little Voice Inside”

Sometimes you just know that you’re in the wrong place, doing the wrong job. It could be that the career you have just isn’t cutting it—emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, physically or financially. Other times, it’s a sense that you could (or should) be doing something else. What ever it is, you owe it to yourself to investigate what the little voice inside is telling you.

I realize that this is hard to describe, but over the years I’ve learned that when the “little voice inside”—also referred to as “your gut” (as in “going with your gut”)—is telling me something on a consistent basis, I need to pay attention. The little voice inside could be the Holy Spirit (the “still, small voice” referred to in 1 Kings 19:12?) working in us, or it could be the blending of emotional and spiritual forces in us that the mind doesn’t quite understand.

Living in a world driven by reason and rationality, such inner disturbances are supposed to be suppressed, but I think that when we do, we do so at our own peril. Feel free to disagree but that’s been my own experience!

A Burning Desire To Do Something Else

Not everyone agrees with the idea of following your passion to your chosen life’s work, and if you don’t please humor me for a bit.

We live in a world where job security is rapidly deteriorating, and as it does the idea of working for a paycheck alone isn’t as solid an idea as it once was. It may be more important than ever to work in a career that you truly feel passionate about. If you do, there’s a better chance that you’ll excel at your work, and become even more successful than ever. And even if you aren’t a success as the world defines it, you may be happier than you’ve ever been.

Should you leave a well paying career to follow your passion? That’s something only you can decide, but it’s worth thinking about.

Make Your Move While You’re Still In Control

One of the advantages of deciding to make a career change is that you can engineer the entire transition. You aren’t leaving because of a layoff or a firing (though either may be a definite possibility in the future) and because of this you can maintain some control over the process.

Many people make career changes only after a job loss, which only seems to be a natural break in the career cycle. But a job loss can create financial need and a sense of panic, neither of which are conducive to a smooth career transition. Better to do it before the ax falls on your job, that way you’re still in control.

What ever the reason driving you to make a career change, it’s always best accomplished while you still have a job that way—at a minimum—you can take care of any preliminary career change requirements while you’re still getting paid.

What would drive you to make a career change, and how might you prepare for it?